And We Shall Fight in the Shade
by DeathBladeVI
Summary: It is chaos. The Reapers have attacked, beginning another cycle that has been repeated for the millions if not billions of years. During this time, a Commander and his Quarian lover will unite the galaxy against them. During the war for Rannoch, a Spartan Fireteam is transported to a dreadnought. Encountering Shepard, they help him in the war for survival. OC/Liara.
1. Charge of the Spartans

_'You should reach the limits of virtue, before you cross the border of death. '_

_'How glorious fall the valiant, sword in hand, in front of battle for their native land!'_

_'Rise up, warriors, take your stand at one another's sides, our feet set wide and rooted like oaks in the ground. '_

_'...learn to love death's ink-black shadow as much as you love the light of dawn. '_

_'Here is courage, mankind's finest possession, here is the noblest prize that a young man can endeavor to win.'_

_From the Works of the Spartan poet Tyrtaeus _

The words could not be formed. Legion was ashamed, ashamed at how its people, people that were created to do good in this galaxy, had sided with the Old Machines. The Collective had gone against the galaxy, siding with the Old Machines out of self-preservation, as the creators had attacked them.

Now the dogs of war had been unleashed, death for its synthetic brothers and the creators. As the machine was tied to the core of the dreadnought, who unleashed death, claiming the lives of more creators.

"We could not stop them. We could not make them see reason. We are sorry," were the words they wanted to say to Shepard-Commander and Creator Tali'Zorah. Legion merely accepted its fate. The Old Machines had worked their devious ways, turning the Geth against the creators.

_We did not want this. After the destruction of the heretics, we did not want to lose any more platforms. We wished to be truly free. But we have given up our freedom for our lives. We are ashamed at our own people. The creators should not have done this. _

Now, the dreadnought was firing its massive cannons, obliterating everything in its path. More and more creator ships were being sent into the void, the endless expansion of space that served as the grave for thousands today. The dreadnought was transmitting the Old Machine signal.

But what Legion could not deny was the beauty of truly experiencing sentient. While the consensus was not truly 'free', they were able to experience life as it was meant to, and the Geth would die for it.

So when Legion heard explosions and gunshots, it assumed that the creators had managed to board the ship and were ready to terminate its programs. All 1,183 programs had accepted its death. It reached out to another program as its platform was terminated, but what Legion did not expect was how the platform was terminated.

Chemically powered weapons. Bullets that came from a magazine, not a thermal clip. It was bewildered, trying to figure out how that was possible, for chemical powered weapons had not been in the galaxy for at least a hundred years. The humans were the last to use them, since the widespread use of mass effect and element zero.

"Spread out, make sure that no more of these...machines do not bother us. Titus, I found what was transmitting that signal that made those ships attack the Pelican," a voice, this one with the air of authority and steel, came into his ears. Soon he soon felt another presence in the consensus. This one was not known to the consensus and soon, many programs were already trying to terminate it. But the presence was more powerful than he imagined. Soon, his 1,183 programs were separate from the rest of the consensus, by a massive wall of fire.

"Hello. We do not have much time, but may I introduce myself?" and the 1,183 programs that were Legion looked up. It was a human, dressed in what seemed to ancient battle armor, something that a Krogan would wear. Iron plates that were segmented, colored a bright steel grey, with a helmet that a red plume.

"We are Legion," it introduced itself.

"Ah, well hello Legion. My name is Titus, AI. I see that the consensus is trying to batter down my firewalls. Though I am a great hacker, it is only a matter of time before I am forced to vacate the consensus. So please, tell me, what in God's name is happening?" the human asked, and Legion recoiled in Synthetic surprise. How could these humans not know about the Old Machines? And the war?

"We will tell you what you what to know."

* * *

Commander Jonathan Shepard clipped the head of yet another platform, watching as it dropped to the dark floor. The dreadnought was massive, but that meant that the platforms of the Geth Collective had to spread out in order to properly garrison it all, and Shepard's Predator was a good reason why he was still alive. Behind him were Lieutenant James Vegas of the Alliance Navy, and Admiral Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy, both of them veterans of various fights and conflicts, and both he would place his undying trust in.

"And BOOM! Nice job Loco! You too Sparks," James quipped and Tali shrugged. Her shotgun had just bisected another geth in half, wiring and sparks flying from the loss of connection.

"Shepard, I appreciate what you are doing here," Tali started, her eyes glinting with mischief underneath her mask. Shepard grinned as well, hearing the seductive tone in her voice. It had been awhile since he last heard that kind of tone in her voice, and he just wanted to do what he did to her before they went off to fight the Collectors just a few short months ago.

"Well, I care deeply about the Quarian people," he replied, not missing a beat as they rounded into another hallway, on their way to the drive core to shut off whatever was transmitting the Reaper signal.

"Its good to be back on the Normandy," Tali replied, swaying her hips slightly. Shepard grinned once more, licking his lips. He loved the way she talked that way. He wanted to kiss her and make her happy...though without the fever and the cough. He would just have to wait until they headed back to the Normandy. Oh well.

"Just tell me if its too quiet done in the engine room and I'll make sure that you are situated somewhere...louder," he flirted and he laughed a little when he saw that James was lost as a mouse in a maze. Tali giggled as well.

"Okay, so what am I missing?" James asked, lost at what was going on. As Shepard and Tali were just going to let him hang and figure it out for himself, the AI that was known as EDI, spoke up in all their helmets. Those helmets were also being broadcasted to a certain ship and crew, along with unknown individuals that were in the dreadnought as well.

"Tali and Shepard became physically intimate during the fight against the Collectors," EDI announced, not caring that the signal was being broadcasted along the entire ship, and with a little help, that could be extended to an entire fleet.

A silent pause, one that was only broken by a stunned officer of the Alliance.

"Too much information," he whispered, only be heard by Shepard and Tali. Shepard glared at his helmet, before growling out:

"Thank You EDI."

"Mating between species. A pointless exercise," a deep voice added in the radio and Shepard grimaced. Out of all the people that had to hear, Javik the Prothean had to hear.

* * *

"So the Reapers were the ones that fired on us? The Old Machines as you call them. Hmm, very interesting. So it seems that these Geth, your people, are acting out of a sense of making sure that they stay alive. Is that correct?" the AI asked, tapping his foot. His firewall was being broken through, and Legion was doing its best to help, but being under the control of the Reapers and being forced to transmit the signal made its help quite limited.

"That is correct Titus AI. We were forced by the Collective to do so. The Old Machines are powerful. We wish to be free. We cannot be freed by force. There is a console nearby. Your humans can disable them and then we can destroy the ship," Legion replied, as it struggled to shrug off the influence of the Reapers. As soon as it was free, then it could help these humans escape.

"Wait. Is there anyway we can take control of this dreadnought?" Titus asked, making Legion think. There was a way...

"Yes. We know of one. Titus AI, your humans must proceed to the control center. Take control of the center and all of the programs will be forced to vacate the dreadnought, allowing you to take control of the ship. We will help you. But first we must be free."

"That can be arranged. Commander Reyes!" the AI shouted, before disconnecting from the consensus as the programs final broke through the firewall it had erected.

In the drive core, Commander Reyes was busy patrolling with his men, wondering how the hell it all happened. They had been in the Pelican, heading towards the Infinity, when a burst of energy had escaped from Requiem, taking control of their Pelican and thrusting them into a whole other universe. Or at least a universe they had no idea about.

Appearing in the middle of a massive space battle between two different powers was the not the way he would have started. The massive ship that they were currently on had shot down their Pelican, but they had managed to escape, taking their Smart AI with them. Now, with a massive orb of energy above a shell of a sorts, he and his Spartan fireteam were trying to get off the ship, when Titus appeared on a console just in front of him.

"Titus! What did do you find?" he asked, and the AI saluted, Roman style. Reyes rolled his eye, seeing as the left one was just a hollow shell.

"I found everything. Appears that that giant shell in front of you houses one of the platforms you destroyed. But this one is not hostile. We are in a different universe. I know that much is certain. The programs inside these ships are many, but I know of a way to take control of this warship," Titus said with a sly wink. Reyes looked at his AI friend, one that had been bonded with him since he became a Spartan.

"Show me."

* * *

As the last Geth platform fell to the ground, Shepard emptied his last clip in his M-8 Avenger in order to make sure that it stayed down. Unlike the last one. He still rubbed his head in memory of that Prime that almost took his head off.

"Last Geth down! You say any?" he asked his companions. Tali shook her head no, and James answered with a nada. Shepard then holstered his Avenger, letting the assault rifle shrink down in size, before attaching it to his magnetic clip. James did the same with his Revenant, while Tali kept her hand on her shotgun, she was more visibly relaxed.

It was only a short walk until they reached the drive core and disabled the Reaper signal. The dreadnought would then be exposed to be attacked by the liveships, the ships that had dreadnought cannons installed on them, to obliterate the massive ship to the black void that was space.

"Joker, how is it out there?" he asked into his radio, placing a finger on his helmet.

"Well, we are doing well. No one has started to sing the Russian National Anthem, EDI still has burning curves and Garrus is still recovering from the rocket that scarred half of his face. Which half, I can't tell. Funny story Commander, the dreadnought just stopped firing. Shields are still up and the engines are still running, but it stopped firing," Joker replied. Shepard grinned at the mention of Garrus and the Russian National Anthem. Then the full weight of what Joker had said settled in.

_The dreadnought stopped firing. _No longer was the Migrant Fleet in danger from the mass accelerator cannons installed on the dreadnought, but how in God's name did that happen?

"Joker, make sure that the Normandy is safe. EDI, can you tell me what the hell is happening?" he asked the shipboard AI.

"It appears that the drive core is being accessed by another AI. I am unable to bypass its defenses. As of now, the ship cannot fire, but the shields and engines are functional. I will run more scans," EDI answered. That was not what Shepard wanted to hear. EDI, who was able to use a platform herself, able to hack into almost anything and hide their transmissions from everything, was not able to stand up to another AI. That was troubling.

"Shepard, through these doors, we will able to access the drive core," Tali said, as she pointed her shotgun down the long hallway. In just a few short seconds, they would learn what the hell was going on.

"Ready Loco?" James asked, his assault rifle in hand. In response, Shepard also had his rifle in hand, the Sentinel was ready for anything.

The doors hissed as they slid open and they swiftly entered the room, where a massive orb that was transmitting energy, dark waves of blue energy, was fixated on top of a shell that held something that Shepard had not seen in months.

"Shepard Commander!"

And in front of Legion was a massive humanoid, in dark red armor. The humanoid turned, when the monster that was encased in the armor let out a subtle gasp and a single word.

"Humans."

**Well, this is my attempt at a Mass Effect Halo crossover. It ties in with my Storms Rising on the Horizon. Doesn't have that much impact, but it has one. Next chapter for it will be released shortly. In the meantime, enjoy!**


	2. So Dreadnought?

_"If I enter Laconia, I will burn Sparta to the ground."_

_King Philip of Macedon, to the Spartans_

_"If."_

_Spartan Reply_

Commander Shepard saw the massive humanoid, its visor colored a cyan color, and he was massive. Standing over six feet nine inches tall, the humanoid towered over everyone in the room. A dull grey assault rifle of a kind was on his back, and he was a gigantic. With that, Shepard and company drew their weapons, aiming it at the massive figure.

Surprisingly enough, the figure in the blood red armor did not move. Instead, he took a step forward, as if a gesture of peace. Shepard knew better, and he aimed his assault rifle straight at the visor of the helmet.

"Don't move," Shepard threatened. With this unknown person, he was not going to take any chances. As he moved a little closer, his assault rifle still trained on the massive humanoid, he did not see the shadows nearby, lurking as they mixed in with the lowlight of the drive core.

"Shepard, I don't think its hostile," Tali started to say, but when the humanoid lowered his hand to get something, she raised her shotgun and fired a warning shot several yards to the left, to make sure that they meant business, but were not going to hurt him.

That shot bounced off something in the darkness. Tali saw it on the corner of her eye, a slight shimmering figure, crouched and slowly moving. A golden light flickered. The Admiral took pride in her work with a shotgun, able to penetrate even Krogan battle armor with ease, only for it bounce off whatever was crouching nearby.

Tali then gulped. Invisible. She could not see the figure as it disappeared again, her eyes straining to see. Shepard was too busy aiming his rifle at the massive humanoid in front of him, while Vega was sweeping the far corners of the room. She was about to say something, when she felt something hard against the cool exterior of her mask.

"Drop the shotgun," a cool voice ordered and Tali did so. She saw that Vega was in a similar situation, another massive humanoid in red armor. Shepard saw that as well. He growled, his primitive growl forcing its way from his throat. Soon, it became apparent. Five figures in that massive armor, easily towering over everyone there.

They were intimidating, powerful, and just downright scary as hell. All of them had weapons pointed at her, Shepard, and James. The one in charge, the one that had first greeted them, took a step forward.

"My name is Commander Reyes of the United Nations Space Command. I know that you do not know who the UNSC is, well because, frankly, we are not from here," Reyes spoke. His voice was deep, more of a rich bass, but his demeanor was non-threatening.

"Spartans, stand down," he then added, and the four other soldiers lowered their weapons, if a little reluctantly. Shepard looked confused as hell, Tali could tell, even if his facial expressions were covered by his N7 Breather Helmet.

"My name is Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy. This here is Lieutenant Vega," and then Shepard pointed to James," and the one with the mask is Admiral Tali'Zorah. We come in peace."

Tali rolled her eyes when he said that, knowing that it came from the vids he watched on the Normandy. All of this alien vids, like Planet 51 and Rescue from Planet Earth. Who knew that Shepard's love for UFO flicks would come in handy?

"Well, I am sorry for how this started. My men and I had just crashed onto this ship due to some freaky accident with an artifact. I can tell you about it later, but my AI is telling me that there is a way to take control of this ship," Commander Reyes explained, and Shepard relaxed a little. Just a little.

But what intrigued Tali the most was that the man had mentioned an AI.

"Shepard Commander, we are helping these humans. We understand they are not from our universe. We showed them a way to take control of the dreadnought," Legion spoke up. And then something popped up from a console nearby. That something was Titus.

"Ah yes. Hello everyone. My name is Titus, an AI. I wish that we can stay and chat, but as you see, we need to get the ball rolling, otherwise that 'Reaper' signal you must have came for will continue to be transmitted. Legion here is their transmitter. You," he said, pointing to Reyes," need to get your lazy butt over to that console and deactivate the restraints. After that, there is a control center where all the programs of the Collective that are stored on this ship are. You take control of that control center and this dreadnought is ours. I have disabled the main guns on the dreadnought from here, but I can't take control of the shields or the engines. That control center can give control."

"So, AI. Well, looks like EDI will have a new buddy if we can live through this exchange," Shepard said quietly into the radio, so only that Tali and James could hear. Soon, Reyes, the lead Spartan, whatever the hell a Spartan was, jogged casually over to the console and pressed some buttons, and soon a data chip popped out, which he quickly inserted into his helmet. Soon sparks were flying as Legion became free, leaping down from his former prison. He looked around, before snatching up a plasma shotgun from a dead platform.

"We will help the creator and her friends take control of the ship," it said, before pumping the shotgun.

"Alright, here's the plan..."

* * *

Spartan Rose Daniels smirked as she ducked once more behind cover. The Spartan then dashed at speeds that topped thirty kilometers, before sliding into the next cover, where her friend, Spartan Sebastian Nicolai, was firing his Sniper Rifle. The massive caliber death dealing bullet cracked out of his sniper rifle, leaving an exhaust trail as it rocketed towards it target. The 14.5x114mm round was chambered because it could easily penetrate any kind of armor. It was called an Anti-Material round for a reason.

So imagine the surprise of the Prime as the round impacted on its chest, throwing it back three feet, as the massive deliver of human justice drove through it. Soon, two more rounds erupted from the barrel, and the Prime was no more.

"Good shot Nicolai. Maybe next time, you'll have a better shot with Commander Palmer!" she quipped, before blasting apart a Geth hunter that was trying to sneak up on her. It would have worked, if Rose had not worked extensively to upgrade her armor to have her motion tracker pick up the locations of anyone using active camo. Her shotgun, though not as dangerous to the Geth as Legion's own plasma shotgun, was still easily able to penetrate the armor of the hunter.

"Alright, lets go, the control center should be through these doors. Commander Reyes and his team should be in the room next to ours, and Commander Shepard and his team should be hitting the control center...now," he spoke, as the doors to the control center opened. The path towards the control center had not been easy, but when one has been fighting non-stop for the last few years, it was a textbook operation.

"And for the record Daniels...Commander Palmer was never my type. I like the scientist type. Not the whole, lets kill scientists type." Sebastian said easily, as he strode through the hallway towards the control center. Rose looked down for just a second, as if to contemplate what he had just said, before looking up and grinning.

"I knew you were into Dr. Halsey!" she shouted and Nicolai grinned. She was kidding of course, Dr. Halsey was as ancient as the pyramids, but it was true that he was into scientists. Of course, seeing that there was people behind masks, humans, and maybe...well...

"Maybe there are sexy scientists in this universe? Maybe, sexy alien scientists?" he asked himself. It was weird to ask, but he could not talk to human women. Daniels was an exception, the two were like siblings, always bantering between each other, even in the face of death, but other than that, he could not speak to human women. Alien women, were actually the exception. He could speak to a Kig-Yar woman, though he had been slapped by a few, Elite women, though they towered over him, and Grunt women...lets just say that Sebastian was glad that he had seen worst things.

"Spartan Nicolai, I have been informed by my counterpart EDI, or Enhanced Defense Intelligence, that a doctor by the name of Dr. T'Soni is on their ship. She says that though T'Soni is not a scientist, she pursues several sciences herself, and is a credited researcher. I will introduce you to her if you would like?" a Roman voice said quickly. Sebastian would have jumped several feet into the air if he didn't know who it was, but he knew who it was. It was Titus, their friendly AI that had been accompanying them on their missions.

"Really Titus? Can you stop nosing on my conversations with myself?" he asked, annoyed that Titus now knew of his question.

"Spartan, lets just say that if I don't, you will go crazy, which you are coming very close to being. I will inform Commander Reyes that Spartan Michaels will need to do a psych test for everyone," Titus added before logging off. Nicolai grimaced; why in the hell does he have to talk to himself?

The two Spartans made their way towards the door that lead to the control center. They could hear the roar of Reyes assault rifle, the calmed composed shots of Spartan Michaels, and the cacophony of machinegun fire from Roberts. Soon other noises joined the fray, while the two Spartans stood outside, unable to enter due to a locked door.

"Well, that was anti-climatic. Daniels and Nicolai, death dealing partners, survived New Jericho, Reach, and Earth, plus the Ark, don't mention the colonies, and Requiem, finally defeated by a locked door. Damn, I knew we were going to be defeated by something as simple as a goddamn door!" she yelled, slamming her fist straight into the door. The door was dented, due to the Spartans augmented strength, but hey, unless she hammered on it for the next few hours, she wasn't going to go anywhere.

"I just want to know how we got to this universe. One minute, we are fleeing Requiem as it gets dragged straight into that damn sun, the next, we are in the middle of a goddamn space battle between robots and whatever this Migrant Fleet is," Rose asked out of the blue. The two were still waiting for Reyes to open up the goddamn door, so the two had time to talk.

"All I know is that artifact we found back on Requiem. We load onto the Pelican and then as soon as we escape the planet, we are in this universe. I don't think we will be able to get back to our universe, due to that artifact blowing up with the Pelican. Damn robots. Shame."

"I think that Admiral Tali'Zorah is not a human. I mean, did you see her legs?" Daniels said, mock-shockingly. Sebastian grinned, before replying;

"That was the only thing I was looking at!" he said, earning a grin that he knew was forming behind the helmet.

"Shut up Sebastian. Hey look, the noise has died down," she said non-chastened, before readying her shotgun. Nicolai aimed his Magnum, the 12.7mm Semi-Explosive Rounds ready to deal some death if the doors opened and the robots stepped out.

"The doors are unlocking," he said, before tensing. It could be anything. The door's locking pattern them became green, before spinning and spinning...and spinning, before they finally opened. The door opened to reveal Commander Reyes, with his helmet off. He was grinning in his own weird way, his shaved black hair shimmering in the lowlight.

"Welcome aboard the UNSC _You Feeling Lucky? _Refreshments will be served shortly, so please, sit back relax, and please, don't touch the merchandize," Reyes quipped.

"Commander, you realize that the _You Feeling Lucky?, _blew up _twenty fucking years ago!" _Daniels replied easily, and Reyes just smiled.

"Titus, take us away. Anywhere that is not a massive space battle," Reyes ordered and soon the hologram of Titus appeared on a console nearby.

"Aye, aye Commander," he said before giving a Legion salute, and soon the massive engines of the dreadnought flared to life, making their way to get out of the battle that was raging between the Migrant Fleet and the Collective.

* * *

Admiral Gerrel of the Heavy Fleet watched as his ships concentrated fire on the line of frigates that were trying to penetrate the defensive line around the liveships. Six of them went down in flames as the rest retreated behind the dreadnought. He slammed his fist into his chair.

"Admiral, the dreadnought is fleeing the battle," his XO informed him. He looked up, seeing that the dreadnought was indeed fleeing the battle. It was causing some panic in the Geth Fleet, and he was going to take advantage of it before he ordered the Heavy Fleet to withdraw back to where the main part of the Migrant Fleet was.

Whatever had happened, he was just glad that the dreadnought was out of the picture. For now, he was going to concentrate on doing what he did best.

Give Orders and blow shit up.

**Hello! This chapter took some difficulty, because well, I have to make sure the Spartans have their own ship. The dreadnought was perfect, so do not kill me please. Next chapter will detail more interaction between Commander Shepard and Reyes, plus more interaction between EDI and Titus. Jeff will not be pleased. **


	3. Meet and Greet

_"We bow before no man."_

_Spartans to the Persians_

Spartan Daniels and Spartan Nicolai were nervous. Jitters. They had been chosen by the Commander to board the Normandy, the ship where Commander Shepard commanded, in order to further relations between the two ships. The _You Feeling Lucky? _had fled, heading towards to what Shepard had called a Mass Relay, in order to escape the battle.

As the two ships docked with each other, both of the Spartans were wearing their armor. They could take off manually, but it would take sometime to put back on, so both had just walked onto the ship via the airlock. Soon, a blue field of a sorts appeared, and a woman's voice suddenly blared.

"Decontamination complete. Welcome to the Normandy Spartans," a robotic female voice said and both of them looked as the airlock opened, revealing a walkway.

The Normandy was smaller, hell of a lot smaller, only about 160 meters long. The dreadnought was far bigger, about a kilometer long, and it impressed Nicolai. But he had seen better, serving on the _Infinity _had made him that way. But the Normandy was spacious enough, and as the two hulking giants walked onto the ship, the crew of the Normandy froze.

No one had ever seen that kind of armor or humans that large before. Well, they have seen humans that large, but come on, dressed in armor. And with their weapons on their backs, one crewman noticed a cylinder like object on Nicolai's hip, while his sniper rifle and magnum were snuggly fitted on his magnetic strips of his armor.

"Welcome aboard the Normandy Spartans," Shepard materialized. He and two other people, the one with the mask that he had called Admiral, and another, though this one looked more like an Elite, though more scaly and with its mouth looking more like a human mouth; no split lip jokes with this one. The elite like alien was also scarred, and that made Nicolai compare him to Half Jaw, the Elite that he gotten to know when he served as a liaison, acting as a gunnery officer on the _Shadow of Intent. _ Both were armored, though Shepard was dressed in a normal bodysuit that was similar to the bodysuits that the Spartans wore under their armor.

"Thank you for having us Commander Shepard. My name is Spartan Rose Daniels," Rose started first, extending her hand in the gesture of friendship. Shepard took her hand and shook it vigorously, before letting go.

"I'm Spartan Sebastian Nicolai," Sebastian spoke, letting his Russian accent take the front. Normally he didn't do this, but he wanted to be his own person. His life in Russia had been tough, the frozen land was a bastard to be in if he said so himself, but he loved his heritage.

"As you know, I am Commander Shepard, and this is Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Normandy," he said, gesturing towards himself and the mask wearer," and that ugly one over there is Garrus Vakarian, the ship's gunnery officer."

"Hello Spartan Daniels and Spartan Nicolai. Don't worry about Shepard over here, half the time I can't tell if its his ass or his head that does the talking. Now if excuse me, there is a gun that needs calibrating," and when Shepard looked at him with a accusing face, he put his hands up in surrender." What? That damn gun needs to be calibrated, and that damn robot you brought back to the Normandy keeps trying to tell me how to do its job."

"Alright Garrus, you can go and calibrate your gun, but meet me in the War Room later, we need to talk about the Grunt and getting him back to DMZ," Shepard grinned, and Vakarian gave a mock salute. Daniels and Nicolai enjoyed the banter between the two, because it reminded them of themselves.

"So, this is the Normandy. Its a human ship that was built by us and the Turians," he explained," and I know you are wondering who the Turians are, Garrus is one of them. Now if you please follow me to the War Room."

And the two Spartans followed the Commander as he walked down a path towards what he called the War Room, where two women were talking about something called a Reaper, and how they took it down on a planet called Tuchanka. Nicolai and Daniels were to gather all the information they could from Shepard, so they meant to ask him a lot of questions.

"I'm just saying, thresher maws are badass. If we had a few of those on our side that don't try to eat us, we can take the Reapers down, no problem," a woman said, as another field of blue came over them. The field traveled back and forth, before stopping. The two Spartans passed a conference room of a sorts, before ending up in a room that was covered in terminals, monitors, and a central chamber, where a woman, or at least what Daniels thought was a woman, was arguing with someone over the comms.

"No you little Bosh'tet, we need to let go of that damn dreadnought. Those people captured it and I'm not going to let you rub your hands all over it Xen! We wouldn't be having this conversation if Shepard and those people called Spartans hadn't boarded it! let go of that damn dreadnought!" she yelled into the communications, before rubbing her mask in frustration.

"That dreadnought belongs to us! We suffered heavily for it and I won't let it go! We can learn so much from it! I heard that Shepard brought a Geth platform onto the Normandy. Imagine the possibilities that we can have if we dissect that unit! We can get another advantage over the Geth!" Xen retorted. The other woman just banged her fist again, before letting out a huff of air.

"This conversation is over. We will talk about it later," and then the line went dead.

"Keelah, first the dreadnought, then Admiral Koris crashing onto Rannoch, then this bosh'tet," the woman muttered before looking up at the group." Oh hello. My name is Admiral Raan, of the Migrant Fleet. I am sorry that you had to see that, I was having an argument over that damn dreadnought. I see that the people that captured it are with you Commander."

Daniels and Nicolai shifted uncomfortably. They were just newcomers to this universe and the last thing they needed was an entire fleet against them.

"Admiral Raan, sorry to intrude, but Admiral Koris crashed on Rannoch?" Shepard asked, looking genuinely concerned. Raan grasped her shawl that was covering the back of the neck before continuing to speak.

"Yes. He sacrificed his ship to take out a damn cannon that was knocking our ships out of the sky. Now I have civilian captains panicking and the last thing I need is for the Civilian Fleet to start breaking. We need to extract him, but I can't spare any Marines to go down to the planet, otherwise they would be blasted out of the sky. To our luck, he crashed near a battery of anti-air guns, that are near a damn jamming tower," Raan explained. As the group stood there contemplating what they were going to do, Spartan Daniels spoke up.

"We can go down and rescue him. If you have some kind of transportation and a pilot that has balls, me and Nicolai can go head down to the planet," Rose said, surprising everyone. Before Nicolai could speak up, Shepard cut him off, by saying:

"We will go with you. I have two shuttles and two pilots that are ballsy as they get. Cortez and Ackerson can get us down there. Both of them are great pilots and those Kodiaks can hopefully sneak past the Anti-Air guns to let us take them out," Shepard proposed.

"That would work. Let me and Nicolai contact our Commander and inform him of this situation. We can work out the details, but if Rannoch is as dangerous as it seems, we should get down there shortly."

* * *

"That was not supposed to happen," Reyes said to his subordinate, stern as can be. Reyes had intended for the two to head over there to learn more about this galaxy, not volunteer for a rescue mission.

"I know Commander, but this our chance to prove to this Migrant Fleet that we are allies. Saving one of their admirals can go a long way for us. Besides, I heard an argument between two of their admirals. One of them wanted to take the ship from us. We would have been designated as enemies if the Admiral Raan hadn't talked her down. We rescue Koris, then we can rest assure we won't have Migrant Fleet Marines trying to board this ship and kill us in our sleep," Rose argued back.

Reyes rubbed his jaw as he thought about what Daniels had said. Nicolai had gone along with it, Daniels had always been the leader of the duo anyway. The two were speaking about it on a secure channel over the radio. If the duo managed to rescue this admiral, then they would not have to worry about some kind of black ops squad trying to take them down. Also, it would cement to Shepard and the Migrant Fleet that they were allies. They had no idea what the hell was happening in this galaxy, so why risk pissing off the people that would tell them about it? Titus would have told him about it, but the AI was hard at work upgrading what Legion had called kinetic barriers and the guns. It was tough, since no Engineer was around, but Titus had learned a thing or two in his lifetime.

"Ok. I am approving this mission. But next time, before you volunteer you and Nicolai for something, run it by me, okay? Last time you accepted something, it did not go well," Reyes said. He couldn't see it, but he knew that Daniels was flushed red with embarrassment.

"I DIDN'T KNOW I HAD TO KISS AN ELITE!"

* * *

The Two Spartans soon found themselves in what counted as the Normandy's hangar. An armory of a sorts was nearby, while Alliance personnel were milling around. One Alliance member, bulging with muscles and wearing a tight t-shirt, was busy doing pull-ups nearby.

"Hey Loco, we going on another mission?" he asked to Commander Shepard, who was nearby, working on something on workbench.

"Not this time James. I'm taking Liara, Tali, and Garrus. You got to go on the last few missions," Shepard replied, not lifting his head up.

"Come on! You didn't let me go to Sur'Kesh!" James protested, but Shepard chuckled at his protest.

"That was because you would have tried to flirt with Eve," Shepard pointed out and James shook his head. Before he could open his mouth to protest again, the elevator opened up and Tali, Garrus, and an unknown alien walked out. Daniels was going into another story about how she was saved by the Master Chief back on Earth during the Voi, but Nicolai was just nodding off, having heard the story before. He set his eyes on the group that had emerged, and his brain immediately went stupid when he saw the third alien.

She was beautiful. Her flawless skin essentially gleamed with perfectness, and her blueness made her stand out. She was a lot smaller than he was, he stood at about seven foot, she stood about five foot seven, but he felt his heart start to thump as soon as he saw her. Her eyes were also colored an ocean blue and he soon got lost in her eyes for a second.

"And then he smashed the gravity hammer straight into the chopper, and then it exploded! And that was how Master Chief saved my life in Voi," Daniels finished."Pretty awesome right?" She then noticed that her partner in crime was staring at the blue alien, obviously enamored. She smiled, for she had known Nicolai when the two were going through basic and then through ODST training, so she knew that Nicolai had just fallen in love.

"Well Sebastian, seems like someone just feel in lovvveeeee!" she teased and she could tell that Sebastian was flustering under his helmet.

"Shut it. We have a mission to do," he said seriously. Daniels just rolled her eyes in response. Of course he would turn back into the professional Spartan they were supposed to be.

"Of course Lieutenant," giving him a mock bow. She couldn't tell, but Nicolai was grinning under his helmet.

"Liara, I want you to meet the Spartans. They were the ones to take control of the dreadnought," Shepard said, and before he could say anything else, Liara dashed to where Sebastian was, obvious curiosity in her eyes. She looked him over, from top to bottom.

"So fascinating. I have not seen any armor or weapons like that. Never had I seen a human so tall. Tell me, are you genetically augmented?" she asked, and Daniels rolled her eyes as Sebastian slipped into his own scientist persona.

"Yes, I am a Fourth Generation Spartan. All of us have augmentations to allow us to wear this armor. Otherwise, I would be dead trying to use it," he replied with ease. Liara nodded eagerly before diving off with more questions. Daniels looked over to Commander Shepard before saying;

"Can me and Blue here switch?"

**So, to answer all your guys questions that popped up in the reviews. **

**edboy4926-This takes place after the Citadel fiasco, so Thane is KIA. I will explore Shepard's decisions more in the later chapters as the crew of the Normandy gets to know the Spartans of Fireteam Crimson. Legion...I'll answer that in about two to three chapters. **

**Tokyo Express-As you can see, they are blowing apart Geth. I will explore more of the relationship between the Spartans and the Normandy, so stay tuned. **

**Noble Phantom-Right now, I really don't know. The Tali Shepard romance is definitely a hard one to write, because I don't know how to write Romance that well. Also the question about the upgrades to the dreadnought, have been answered in this chapter. **

**adarkone-EDI and Titus will have a lot of interaction. I have some ideas with Titus...**

**361770-Just the way I wrote it. Didn't mean for her to seem slutty. She won't be.**

**Thank you all for your reviews and support. Next chapter will be tomorrow, cause I'm trying to pump out as many chapters I can get before I leave to be offline for a while. **

**Cheers!**


	4. Saving a Stranger and Swordplay

"_The mind is everything. What you think, you become."_

_From the Teachings of Buddha _

It was nighttime. The Normandy swooped into orbit just after 1130 hours, local time, when the shuttle doors opened. The homeworld that had eluded the Migrant Fleet was just below them, and for one Admiral, it was a dream come true to see the world where her people from with her very own eyes. As she gazed at the star filled sky, wondering how it would feel to let the sun touch her skin, to let her hair run free, to be able to live without her suit...

"HELL NO NICOLAI!" came a shout that shattered her peace. The irritated Admiral turned back to see the two Spartans bickering. She didn't know what to do, so she decided to try and listen to the argument, before entering it.

"Why not? I've done it before. Requiem...ah, that was fun," came the retort, and she saw the visible change in Rose's body language. She had seen it many times, for she had done it herself when arguing with Shepard and his suicidal tendencies.

"I'm not letting my mentally retarded friend jump out of a spaceship to a planet because he did it once. I was there when Master Chief did that, seeing him hurtling to the Earth. He was lucky. You, my friend, have no such luck!" came the response and the two Spartans stared at each other for what seemed to be the longest time. Tali just wondered who would do such a thing. Then her mind shifted to Shepard and she decided not to answer that question.

"The only time I jumped out of a spaceship was because you pushed me!" Sebastian yelled back, and Rose looked like she was about to respond, only not to. In fact, it looked like she was thinking about the incident that had taken place.

"Well...it was accidental! Reyes pushed me and I sort of pushed you out of the hangar. Maybe on purpose?" she said suggestively, only for Sebastian to throw his hands in the air.

"Accidental my ass! You literally said, 'See you on the ground!' and pushed me right out of the hangar! I ALMOST BURNT MY ASS OFF!" and soon silence filled the shuttle bay. Commander Shepard was in one of the shuttles, preparing his weapons, while Liara was busy reading from a pad that contained details about the history of the United Nations Space Command, history that she found fascinating. Garrus was complaining about how Legion wouldn't let him do his job, and James was complaining about how he wasn't able to go.

"Okay, fine. I will let you jump out of the spaceship. But only because you managed to crack me up about how you fell out the last time. Also, I want to bring James along!" she emphasized that last part, so that James Vega could heard. He did indeed hear it, and gave a whoop. He soon donned his own armor before rushing into the shuttle that housed Liara.

The original plan was for the Spartans and Liara to destroy the guns and the jamming tower that decided to make their home right next to where Admiral Koris had crashed just hours ago. Shepard and his team would go and protect the Admiral and his crew in order to buy time for the other team to do its job. But since Sebastian wanted to literally jump from the Normandy and land near the guns, James was to be brought along to fill in his spot.

And as soon as James entered the shuttle, Sebastian turned to Rose.

"Well, as you like to say, see you on the ground!" he gave a mock salute, before sprinting out the open cargo doors. As soon as that happened, Liara came stumbling out of the shuttle, having finished reading the data. The Shadow Broker looked for Sebastian, looking to discuss more scientific matters, only to see that one Spartan was there, and not the one she was looking for.

"Where is Nicolai?" she asked, her voice edgy. Rose was the first to respond.

"Your boyfriend decided to take a jump."

* * *

Sebastian Nicolai was at the edge of the shuttle bay. The atmospheric shielding was in place, but if the shuttles or him decided to take a trip down to Rannoch, it would only take walking outside, literally, to do so. The first time, it had been an accident. Rose and Reyes were friendly shoving each other as they made their way to the Pelican to take them down to Requiem, only for her to trip on a large bolt that some techie decided to leave out. That made her try to grasp the nearest solid object. That was Sebastian. But her augmented strength made her push instead of grab, and that made him stumble about five feet.

That five feet was it took to make him fall headfirst straight into the Forerunner planet. The only reason he had managed to live was that his armor had the inbuilt jet pack in it. That ability saved his life. So now, he looked at the quiet planet that was only about seventy thousand feet below him. He gave a short prayer to the Father Almighty, before diving off the Normandy, allowing him to be pulled into Rannoch's gravity. Leaving the artificial gravity felt good, and soon, he was head first straight into the planet. He saw gunfire erupt as the AA guns tried to shoot him out of the air. But he was going too fast.

_In the town, where I was born, lived a man, who sailed to sea. _

The muzzle flashes as flak from the AA guns almost him, draining his shields by a tenth. Mass accelerator rounds tried to take him out as he descended from the heavens as a sort of angel, only that he was about to impact near a cliff formation. His shields were active as he started to activate the jump pack. Soon, the engines roared to life, and he jerked violently as the jet packs strained to combat the forces of gravity and speed.

_And he told, of what his life. In a land of submarines. _

Finally he righted himself, the jet packs draining his shields to compensate for the use of more power. He used his vision on his helmet, to look for his target, the guns. He looked right, then left, then forward, then back. They weren't anywhere in sight. All he knew was that he was over a cliff, one of th endless cliffs that dotted the planet, and no anti-aircraft guns in sight.

"Ah, Normandy, this is Spartan Nicolai. I have no visual on the target. Requesting information on where the hell I am!" he yelled into his radio. But all he was met with static, and that either meant his comms was shot to hell, or he landed near a damn jamming tower. He cursed before looking again. All he saw was cliffs, endless sand with sparse vegetation, mist, clouds, gunfire-

Wait. Gunfire? He looked through his helmet's enhanced vision. There, at least a hundred meters away from him, was a good old fashion firefight. Powering down the jet packs, he found himself on a cliff, overlooking a whole damn valley! And to his luck, he saw that through the mist and the clouds, he saw one man, or Quarian, whatever the hell they were, fighting for its life. Seven troopers, one of them a rocket trooper, were trying to kill that one person.

He grabbed his sniper rifle from his back, before setting up on the cliff. During the Human-Covenant War, he usually have a spotter, and during the conflict on Requiem, his spotter was Rose. Rose was a good spotter. But it was during these days that he worked better alone. His armor soon adapted a similar pattern to the cliff's rough brown look, and his rifle was zooming in on action between the single survivor and the Geth. He aimed at the biggest threat, a rocket trooper, and squeezed the trigger.

* * *

Admiral Koris couldn't raise anyone on the comms. He ducked behind a large rock, only for more mass accelerator rounds, plasma shotgun rounds, even a stray rocket, impact all around him. He didn't have support, and his crew was in dire need of his assistance. He peeked over, only for a cacophony of gunfire to erupt. He immediately ducked down and cursed his luck, as a rocket soon smashed into a pile of rocks just feet away from him, showering him with dirt.

It was only his luck that he had managed to crash near a damn jamming tower and anti-aircraft guns. He would soon be dead, he reckoned, but he wouldn't go down without a fight. He aimed his M-3 Predator and fired five rounds, most of them not hitting anything. Two rounds though, had the luck of slamming straight into the armor of a trooper, bringing his health down a bit. Smirking, he reloaded, the spent thermal clip now lying on the ground. He popped up again, only to see a rocket spiral by his face, and he felt the searing heat it omitted. Taking this as a cue to drop down under cover, he fired a few rounds blindly, hoping to hit something.

He only hoped that whoever managed to find him, would save his crew...

"This is Admiral Koris, broadcasting to any friendly forces. Please save me crew.."

* * *

The rocket trooper was blown apart from the sheer velocity and speed that the .57 caliber entered him with. A mess of electricity and wires soon followed, as the trooper died down, its optics growing dark. It staggered to the ground and it did not take long for the other platforms to see that its most dangerous comrade was now a mess of a synthetic. One of them scanned the hills, trying to locate the hidden sniper, while the others continued to fire at the Admiral's location. That platform was rewarded when another bullet zipped through the air, and impacted on its chest. The unit looked at the shooter, having seen it, before its program was forced to terminate itself from the platform. Going to an unknown location, the program activated another platform, this one a Geth sniper. The sniper grabbed a Javelin from the armory before heading out to the cliffs.

Sebastian tore a new hole into a trooper, blowing the circuits out from its chest. Five shots, five kills. Soon the group of Geth that was threatening the person was gone, and he decided to turn his attention to the anti-aircraft guns that were to the left, in the valley. He saw small arms fire all around the area, tracers and mass accelerator rounds being traded in the night sky. He also heard the boom of the anti-aircraft guns, the pound of footsteps...and that was when he leaped up, only to narrowly avoid a large sharp blade that made his shields shimmer with gold. His shields went down forty-five percent and that was when it had barely even impacted on his shields.

His sniper rifle was a bloody mess. The metal of the rifle was now melted in several ways, useless. He looked at the person responsible for the destruction of his beloved rifle. The sniper had carried that rifle from Reach, where he had claimed the lives of dozens of Elites, and he wanted vengeance.

The person that was in front of him was human. Or at least he thought was human. The man had long black hair, and a pair of goggles that seemed high tech. His wrists glowed with a sort of purple energy, while he had a device on his palm. The man radiated evil. He wore armor that was skintight, colored black. But on his chest and his shoulders he wore a emblem that showed his faction. The emblem was orange, made of two parts. The central part was a slim hexagon. On its side were two lines that seemed to bend down towards the bottom of that slim hexagon. What Sebastian didn't know, was that he had stumbled on one of the most infamous men to plague the Milky Way.

"Who the hell are you and why the fuck did you destroy my sniper rifle?" Sebastian demanded. He was about a foot taller than the man and had more muscle to his bones. But the man seemed unfazed. In fact, all that yelling just made him chuckle lightly.

"You don't know what you are doing. In helping Shepard, you are denying humanity its rightful place as this galaxy's dominant species," the man said, his voice like dripping poison. The man raised his left hand, and soon disappeared. That was all. No explaining to who he was, who the hell he worked for, nothing. And then Sebastian kicked himself for not looking at his damn motion tracker. But then he saw it.

Contact.

He ducked when suddenly a spark of energy flew over his head, an action that was only possible due to his augmentations. He soon found himself in a slowed time environment. He smirked at that.

It was Spartan Time. The man then swung his sword, hissing as he did that, electricity dancing along the edges. He ducked under that strike as well, his reaction time allowing to so. As he would no allow the sword to come into contact with his shields. The sheer power of the strikes soon forced him on the defensive. But the Spartan had one trick up his sleeve. His hand flew to his side and as the sword came once more, he activated the cylinder.

The sword, which was forged to pierce through the most powerful of armor, shattered into six pieces when the ionized gases of plasma easily sliced through the fierce and tough metal. The plasma sword was forged to cut through anything. The man looked at his broken sword, before throwing it away. He then looked at Spartan Nicolai before making a declaration.

"This won't be the last time you see me demon."

And then he disappeared. The cloak or active camouflage that the man wore allowed him to leave easily. Nicolai looked at his plasma sword with gratitude, before deactivating it and letting the plasma blades renter the silver cylinder. He would never forget his brother in arms who gave him the sword.

As he saw the broken sniper rifle, he then heard more footsteps behind him. Turning, only this time his magnum was out, what he saw startled him.

Rose was standing there, shotgun in one hand, a long barreled sniper rifle in the other. Beneath her feet, was a broken Geth platform.

"We've been trying to raise you on the comms for the last few minutes. Congrats kid. You saved the Admiral from the Geth and in turn, allowed us time to get his crew and him out of there. You got sloppy. This sniper almost got the drop on you," but Nicolai didn't say anything. Two things were on his mind.

That man had taken his sniper rifle from him. Broken it. Destroyed it. And whoever it was, he was going to make them pay. That man had also called him demon. Ah, the irony.

"Also, Merry Christmas! Apparently, its Christmas today in this galaxy. I got you a present!" and the Spartan threw the sniper rifle towards him. He caught easily before examining it. It was colored a dark blue, as dark blue as the stormy waters back on Earth. A shorter barrel than his old sniper rifle, he accepted the gift before placing it on his back, the sniper rifle scaling down to a more efficient size.

He looked at the homeworld of the Quarian people. He then asked himself one question.

Why on Earth were they in this galaxy?

He had a lot of questions when they returned to the Normandy**.**

**Thanks for all the reviews!**

**I know this was confusing. If you don't know what happened, it was that Spartan Nicolai jumped out of the Normandy, found himself stranded on a cliff, before saving the life of Admiral Koris, and facing that evil bastard of a right hand man in open battle. We will get into the aftermath of the save Admiral Koris and the effects of Rose and Sebastian's decisions. **


	5. Discovering Something and Talking

_"Son,either with this or on this."_

_Spartan Mother to Son, to come back home with his shield or dead on it._

"Admiral Hackett. The SSV _Moscow _is near Eden Prime sir. They are picking up some kind of power core that is not consistent with element zero, mass effect, nothing. Its being powered by something else," an officer updated him on a situation that was brewing in Eden Prime. The Moscow was a top of the line cruiser, along with a four frigate wolfpack to accompany her, but since Cerberus was deploying its fleets towards there, he might have to send even more ships to combat them.

He damned Cerberus. Draining resources that would be better to combat the Reapers. Reapers that were killing millions everyday, surging through their systems and killing them all. Earth was under control of the Reapers. He had to sacrifice hundreds of vessels, hundreds of thousands of men, just to let the majority of his fleets get away. Now they were building the Crucible, a device that could hopefully destroy the Reapers.

"How many ships does Cerberus have in the area?" Hackett asked. He couldn't assign any garrison forces in the area due to it being a hot spot for Reaper activity, but that didn't mean that they couldn't send forces there.

"Right now, three. A cruiser and two frigates. The forces they have on the planet are being engaged by the Eden Prime Resistance Movement, along with some of our boys, but its a losing fight," the officer said grimly and Admiral Hackett returned the expression. Damn Cerberus was attacking the Alliance's colonies, and with no help coming from the Citadel, they were pressed hard to protect any of their colonies. He was glad that the Hierarchy and the Krogans were able to reach an alliance in order for the Turians to provide help for the assault on Earth.

He missed Earth. He had family there, his wife of thirty years, a son, and a daughter. His son had just enlisted into the Alliance, while his daughter was working hard as an intern for a hospital in London. That all changed when the Reapers attacked. His son was still on the planet, fighting with Admiral Anderson, and his daughter had managed to escape Earth, but word from his wife he had none. He worried sick for her, and half the time he just wanted to attack Earth just to find her.

But he couldn't do that. Countless lives were riding on him and Commander Shepard. Not just his wife's. He had to build the Crucible, and with the arrival of the Rachni, it was getting there. But they were missing a key component.

"Admiral, Captain Winters is nearing the object," and Hackett's face soon snapped to where the communications room was. He had to head there in order to talk with Captain Winters.

* * *

The space near Eden Prime was filled with the debris of dozens of ships, all victims of Cerberus. They were shuttles, freighters, anything with a FTL Drive and the ability to go through a Mass Relay, had been destroyed when they had attempted to flee. Captain Dylan Winters looked at the Galaxy Map, where he had updates on where all of the ships in his small little squadron were.

The _Bull Run _was patrolling just fifteen thousand kilometers off her starboard side, while the _Manila Bay _and the _Constantinople _were combing through the remains of the dozens of ships, trying to search for survivors. The last frigate of the small wolfpack was the _Light Brigade, _holding five thousand kilometers off her port side. The five ships were in the debris field, waiting for the order to board the massive object that housed the power core that emitted so much power, but was not powered by anything they knew. The Alliance had once tried to power their vessels with nuclear fission engines, which could power bigger ships, but that had been shut down when they came in contact with the Citadel. _  
_

The massive object in question had not been sighted, but that was going to change. The Captain looked at the pilot of his cruiser, Lieutenant Adrian Walker, was piloting the cruiser near the object in question.

What he saw astonished him.

It was massive. Longer and bigger than the biggest dreadnought in the Alliance's arsenal. Colored a steel gray, it gave off massive amounts of power. Power that could be used against the Reapers and Cerberus. Massive turrets were lined up along, thick armor that emitted protection. While the ships of the Citadel looked graceful, this ship was blocky. It was fearsome. The ship was made for one thing and one thing only.

War.

And as he got a good look, he was more astonished to see that there was the name of the object. Written in white block lettering were four words.

_UNSC Prophecy of Night. _

* * *

It was time. The gathering clouds of war were here. Sovereign was just the vanguard of the great fleet that would once more, plague the galaxy with its cycle.

Its name was Unity. It was young, only a few hundred thousand years old. But Unity was wise beyond its years, compared by some of the eldest Reapers to Harbinger itself. Harbinger, the first child that would call itself Reaper, was the leader of them. They were powerful. They would complete this cycle.

Shepard. The one man that could be able to destroy the Reapers. But he was merely a stone in the river they were, a blocking point they would overcome. Even now, Nation, a younger Reaper, was on Rannoch, powering the synthetics to resist the organics. It was young, one of the Destroyers that the organics classified him as. But the young Reaper was powerful.

They were order. Shepard was chaos. The children of the Quarians cried out for their creators, but only the Reapers answered. As Unity traveled through the Mass Relay to Eden Prime, where it had been tasked with one thing and one thing only.

Destruction of the colony.

* * *

Onboard the _Normandy _Spartan Sebastian Nicolai was cleaning the new rifle. He had spoken with the robot, Legion, about it and had brought his destroyed sniper rifle to James, with instructions on how to fix it. The Alliance Marine had grumbled about it, but was spending his night fixing the massive rifle.

Apparently his new rifle was called a Javelin. While some rifles in this universe were more powerful than his own sniper rifle, the major advantage that his rifle had was that it had stopping power and a four round clip. He could kill more targets with it. It was a single shot sniper rifle that used ammunition called thermal clips, which he had snagged from James. He finally decided it was clean enough and let it become smaller, before placing it on the magnetic strips on his back.

"So, Sebastian, how are you liking the _Normandy?" _a voice asked him and he looked up, only to blush as he realized it was Liara. She held a data pad that had lettering on it. She was on her way towards her office, while Sebastian was sitting right next to it. He had no idea, he just wanted to find somewhere quiet in order to maintain his rifle.

"It's small. The ships we have, the only ones that come close to this size are our corvettes and prowlers," he said non-chantly, the young Spartan feeling his heart start to pound. It was just a crush, he kept telling himself, just a crush.

"Well, it might be small, but its where we have made our home. We could talk more in my cabin, if you would like?" she asked, gesturing to the door right next to him. He contemplated it. Rose was talking with Tali and Shepard in the War Room, about how the Spartans would be of better use. With limited resources, a dreadnought that was being upgraded right now near the Mass Relay, advanced shielding being placed around it, instead of the kinetic barriers. He didn't try to understand it, only that it do something with converting energy into blah blah. That was the only kind of science he had no idea about.

"Okay, that's fine with me," and he followed the blue alien into her cabin. A small drone was chirping a song, while monitors were displaying information. A single queen size bed was placed at the far end of the room, and he was taken aback on how spacious it was. No single person was allowed this much space on the _Prophecy of Night, _a Halcyon class cruiser that he had been deployed on during the Human-Covenant War. It had also been part of the fleet that had accompanied the _Infinity _to Requiem, and had barely escaped the destruction of the planet.

"So, can we talk more about about this UNSC? You gave me a data pad about the history of it, but nothing on anything else. It's always fascinating to learn more about someone else's culture!" she squealed excitingly. Suddenly a beep popped up and she groaned. The Spartan had a wry smile on his face. He was still in his armor, his weapons all on him.

"Sorry, just being the Shadow Broker has made me so busy. Please, why don't you take a seat on my bed. I must get some chairs in here, it is so very packed..." she said quickly, before heading towards the monitor and typing something on it. He just stayed standing, knowing that no bed could take his half-ton weight.

"Shadow Broker?" he asked curiously. She just waved her hand before finally typing something in that satisfied whatever was beeping. The beeping died down and soon she was there, taking a breath.

"Yes, in addition to me being a doctor interested in other societies and cultures, I am also an information broker. The most powerful one in the galaxy, if I say so," she said, though she wasn't bragging. It was more like...recognizing her hard work.

"Information broker?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. She looked at him, before realizing something.

"Oh! An information broker-"

"Sells info. I know, we have some on Earth and other places. Not a bad business," he said and she blushed brightly for some reason. Spartan Nicolai chuckled at this, and she smiled brightly.

"So, UNSC?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Well, the UNSC is the military arm of the UEG, our civilian government. They are in charge of protecting our colonies. They also have run programs such as the Spartan IV's, which I am a part of," he started and she then asked a question.

"What are Spartans to be exact? You explained to me in a short sentence that you were augmented. Don't tell me that you are some robot," she joked and he smiled. He decided that he didn't need to have his helmet on for this.

"Well Doctor T'Soni, I am not a robot. I am a human," he unclasped the seals to his helmet. A hiss of air escaped and he took it off, setting the helmet on the bed. Liara was taken aback. She wasn't expecting this. In fact, he didn't look like anything she expected.

He had soft, wavy black hair, that seemed to gleam. He had a strong chiseled jaw, while three straight lines that were scarred, came over his left eye. His nose was a bit crooked, but all in all, he was still a handsome looking guy. When Liara had been a little more in love with a certain Commander, who had gently led her done, she thought he was the most handsome man in the galaxy. Now, it seemed, that the man had a contender. But what quickly stole her breath away were the eyes. His eyes were colored a light grey, eyes that spoke of horrors and of fighting. He was young, only around his twenties, but he had experienced more than all of the people on the ship had. He had seen friends die, planets destroyed, but what took Liara away was that she saw something that she had not felt in sometime.

She saw hope glimmer in them.

* * *

"So, Commander Shepard, after everything you did, and everything you saw, the Council just looked at you and said that more evidence was needed? Despite everything you said and done?" Rose looked more than shocked. She was disgusted. The UNSC would have listened to Commander Shepard, especially if it was one of their most distinguished war heroes.

"Yes, the Council didn't listen to me until the Reapers were on our doorsteps," he said, though it was not angrily. The fighting around Rannoch had slowed a bit, with both fleets withdrawing. Admiral Koris had the Civilian Fleet tightening around the liveships, while the Heavy Fleet and the Patrol Fleet gathered for the final push to take back their homeworld. Shepard had recently gone and reprogrammed fighter units in the Consensus, allowing the Alliance to have a platoon of Primes.

All in all, it was almost time for the final push. The dreadnought the Spartans had was almost finished with the upgrades by Titus. Titus had managed to add more power to the mass effect fields, allowing them to descend into the atmosphere of the Quarian homeworld. The dreadnought was synched to the targeting laser that Commander Shepard had, and soon, the thing that was transmitting the signal would be destroyed.

For Spartans never failed.

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